


Farther from Heaven

by keepbeachcityqueer



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Angst, Corrupted Gems, F/F, Non-Canonical, Sapphire is fucking dead, also a metaphor for mental illness, and Ruby is corrupted as a result
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-13
Updated: 2016-05-13
Packaged: 2018-06-08 04:02:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 685
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6838300
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/keepbeachcityqueer/pseuds/keepbeachcityqueer
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>...the beast was nothing, now. It was a monster long before corruption, long, long before it had spent countless years trying to fuse with gems that looked like her in a desperate attempt to claw at its remaining sanity.</p><p>It was a beast the moment it had regenerated, expecting its other half to do the same, turning around with delight to be whole again, to fight, to end this mess for their planet-</p><p>Only to see a pile of blue, glittering dust mixed in with dirt.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Farther from Heaven

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Hannah_bun](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hannah_bun/gifts).



> A request on tumblr that i feel as though I did a surprisingly good job on go me

The only thing in the small beast’s mind that had been keeping it from crushing its own gem was the sound. The sound of shattering, of crunching. The sound of a crushed gem. Something it had first heard thousands of years ago that stuck to its mind like some fucked-up sort of homeworld technology.

It had first heard the sound when, those thousands of years ago, the second place where the beast called home was wiped out completely, torn to shreds, along with every single thing it had grown to love, where it was accepted and trusted, protected even. When it was looked up to, and admired for its courageousness.

But the beast was nothing, now. It was a monster long before corruption, long,  _long_ before it had spent countless years trying to fuse with gems that looked like _her_ in a desperate attempt to claw at its remaining sanity.

It was a beast the moment it had regenerated, expecting its other half to do the same, turning around with delight to be whole again, to fight, to end this mess for their planet-

Only to see a pile of blue, glittering dust mixed in with dirt.

That was when it truly became a beast.

Suddenly, the earth was scorched. Everything was falling apart around the beast in slow motion. Trees took their time to tumble around it, fire shadow-danced enticingly, ready to engulf its metaphorical heart so it could hurry up and chase its beloved in some far off, speculative land where crushed gems and dead humans alike went.

Steven called it “heaven”.

In the distance, it heard Pearl, Amethyst, and Steven’s cries for help. But they weren’t close enough for it to register. Instead, it crawled towards the blue dust, gathered it in its hands, and ran, ran as far as it could go, watching its tears soak dark spots into the pretty blue powder.

_You always ruin everything, don’t you?_

It went back to seek shelter in a cave, so similar like the cave where it spent its first night with its beloved, and held the powder in its hands while it watch the world burn from the mouth of the cave. Minutes turned to hours, which turned to days, months, years.

The beautiful thing about Earth was that it regrew from its own ashes. But the beast did not. The beast lost its softness, turning violent against the other cultivated earth gems that dared to call themselves sapphires. They didn’t _feel_ how Sapphire should feel. Every “garnet” that came as a result wasn’t the beast’s Garnet. It was never the same.

And so, it crushed every Sapphire that it didn’t feel with. Made more pretty blue dust that didn’t glitter like the powder it kept in the handmade bundle around its neck. With each kill, it grew more distorted. Its speech became garbled, its teeth turned into fangs, its body developed a hunch that forced it on all fours, its hair evolved to cover its body. Its left hand outgrew its body, forming a ragged club-like appendage that it used to aid in its mobility.

Every day it killed, and when it did, it would hear the crunching sound that it eventually forgot the meaning of, until it went back to refuge in its cave. There it struggled to untie the bundle from its neck, unraveled it, and sadly gazed upon the dust. The salt from its tears bleached her, removing her glitter and pure baby blue color. It was this nightly ritual that prevented the beast from smashing its hand against the nearest boulder, over and over again, because somewhere, somehow, amidst the sounds of shattering and crunching that plagued its mind, it heard a light, joyous “Ruby!…”

It curled up in a small ball, careful not to get too close to the powder so that it’s constantly overheated skin wouldn’t ruin her further. Before letting unnecessary repose take it, it muttered something through its mouthful of fangs that sounded strange like “Sapphire…?” before a single tear dropped from its eye and landed on its hand with a soft hiss.


End file.
